By Ryan Graf
SBCC could not hold on to the seven-point lead with just under eight minutes left in the first half of Saturday’s consolation final of its MTXE women’s basketball tournament, ultimately falling to the Riverside Tigers, 67-51.
The Vaqueros (2-4) established their largest lead at 20-13, scoring seven unanswered points off of a Mizhrua Bautista field goal and three-pointer and a Darla Morales bucket with 7:45 remaining in the opening period. Bautista recorded a team-high 11 points and shot 67 percent from the field.
But Riverside (5-2) responded with an eight-point run of its own, knocking down back-to-back shots from beyond the arc and then a two to regain the lead at 21-20 with five and a half minutes to go.
Morales would score again less than a minute later to give City College its final lead of the contest at 22-21. Last year’s leading scorer among Santa Barbara’s five returners finished with eight points, four rebounds and three assists for one of the most versatile Vaquero stat lines of the afternoon.
And although the teams swapped buckets momentarily, the Tigers began to pull away just before the half and went into the intermission up 32-27.
“We’re playing tough; we just have to sustain,” SBCC head coach Sandrine Krul said. “We can’t go away from what’s working, but we have young guards, so it’s going to take time. But man, their effort I cannot complain about.”
The Vaqueros’ tournament-long struggles with transition defense and limiting second-chance opportunities persisted in the second half. They were out-rebounded 57-35, and 36 of the Tigers’ boards came on the offense end of the floor.
City College also had trouble in the fouls department, committing 21 to Riverside’s 13, which allowed the Tigers to outscore them 14-5 from the charity stripe. Riverside shot 61 percent from the line, while the Vaqs made just half of their free throw attempts. Turnovers were virtually equal at 14-11 in favor of Santa Barbara.
Less than five minutes into the second half, Riverside had extended its lead to double-digit points at 42-32. The unit was able to maintain a similar spread for the remainder of the game on the shoulders of Tamara Herring, who scored half of her team’s first-half points and finished with 23. For her efforts in the consolation final and the MTXE as a whole, the 5-10 guard was named to the All-MTXE Tournament team at the conclusion of the contest.
Other strong performances for SBCC came from Destiny Renteria, who came off the bench to go 3-of-5 from downtown and tally nine points to go along with four rebounds, as well as Stella Dulay, who registered eight points and four rebounds.
Victoria Jackson, who is leading the red and black in assists so far this season, dished out six helpers to complement four points and five rebounds.
